Revolution 9
by PPM
Summary: An abnormal girl tries to lead a normal life for once, before she realizes that not everything stays in the past. AU, postseries, BB⁄Terra.
1. Please Please Me

**A/N:** I would like to give major props to spam-in-a-can for helping me with this chapter, and this fic in general. She knows what she's done. Same with Raptor and Kai, though I don't think they have FFN accounts. Anyway. Here's my latest offering, an alternate universe fic set post-series. Specifically AU because I don't want to destroy what Things Change established. Yes, this will be a multi-chapter fic. So. Please to be sitting back and enjoying **Revolution 9**.

* * *

Ring.

Ring.

Brooke sighed, flopping against her bed.

Ring.

Her alarm clock kept wanting to keep her up, even though it was 6AM and officially too damn early to be awake. By now, with a couple months of high school under her belt, she should have been used to it, but waking up before the sun rose still didn't settle well with her – probably because she had only fallen asleep six hours prior.

Ring.

Sigh. She lunged out from her bed to put the alarm on snooze and lay there for a minute, wondering if she could get away with another nine minutes.

…

…

Ring.

The alarm woke her up again, and she reached her arm out again to turn it off, this time hopefully ready to get up and face the day. Her head lazily rolled to catch the digital readout; she gasped. Nine minutes had turned into 63; it was now 7:03AM and the bus to Murakami High would be there in just about twelve minutes.

She swore to herself, kicking the red sheets off her body and nearly tripping on the bed in her mad clamber to get into uniform with enough time for some kind of breakfast. Never having to get dressed this quickly, she didn't care that her tie was crooked or her collar was still popped, or her skirt wasn't pleated perfectly. She'd fix all that later, when she was on the bus. Grabbing her backpack off the railing to save time while she could, she rushed to the bathroom to brush her teeth, then barreled down the stairs, again almost falling down head over heels in her rush. Snatching a Pop-Tart from an already-open sleeve, she crammed half of it into her mouth and yelled something unintelligible into the house as she pulled the door open and ran outside.

Greeting her outside was the tail end of the bus pulling away from the stop at the corner of her street. Which also happened to be the last stop before the school, so she couldn't even chase the bus and catch it further down. "Wonderful," she muttered quickly, slinging her bag over her shoulder and sprinting after the bus, hoping she wouldn't get sweat all over her clothes and wind up smelling like crap all day.

Her mad dash had taken her through parts of Jump City she never even remembered going through on foot, and yet somehow she could still find her way to school without a hitch. She knew exactly why that was, but the reason was constantly being pushed to the back of her mind, and she wasn't in the mood to start analyzing it, either. By the time she'd finally arrived on the grounds of the school, a bell had just stopped ringing; she had no idea which one, though, until she caught sight of two of her better friends running inside the building.

"Alison!" Brooke called out. "Sarah!" The girls, a redhead and a brunette, stopped running briefly and turned around, which gave Brooke the chance to catch up.

"Brooke!" the red-haired girl said, giving her a once-over with her eyes. "Jeez, you look like hell."

"Yeah, don't remind me, Sarah. I had a rough morning."

"We saw you running after the bus," added the brown-haired girl, "and we tried getting the driver to stop, but he didn't do anything."

"Wonderful." Brooke sighed. "Look, can we just get inside? We're gonna be late if—"

Another ringing bell cut her off, and this time she knew which one it was. She'd made all three of them late now. Not even waiting to finish her sentence, she bolted towards the doors of the school with Alison and Sarah quickly following suit.

-RN-

The rest of the day continued without incident, for once, which Brooke was thankful for. Homeroom, where she had gotten chewed out for being late and looking sloppy. But after that, algebra, English, American history, earth sciences, all that fun stuff. The only class she had really been looking forward to was earth sciences; she'd always been inexplicably amazing at geology, and Ms. Cisewski always seemed to favor her for her aptitude.

And yet, all day, she'd been focusing on one thing in particular: That early-morning rush. The thrill of wondering whether or not she would make it in time. The stress pumping adrenaline into her body – which she didn't know about, because biology was never her thing, but _something _had been giving her a rush, and the important part of it all was that she'd liked it.

But no. She couldn't be thinking like that. She didn't _want _to like that rush. She was just a normal teenage girl. Stuff like that couldn't excite her. It shouldn't. Because if she were to focus on that for too long, she knew it would send her into a rush of a completely different kind, one spanning back two years and even further. And she couldn't have that. The time had long since come for her to leave her past behind her.

As she walked on to the bus at the end of the day, for a change, she didn't sit with Alison or Sarah. She fed them some excuse about how she had a lot of homework to do and how she wanted to get an even earlier start than usual. So as to keep up the charade, when she moved to the middle of the bus (since the back was always filled with the wrong kinds of kids, or at least as wrong as Murakami High would permit), she pulled a notebook and pencil, as well as her earth sciences book, from her backpack and started writing something, but not homework. In the clearest handwriting the shaking and bouncing bus could allow, she started writing down the lyrics to a song that had been running through her head for the past couple days.

_You decided this_

_Mm, what'd you say?_

_Mm, what did she say?_

_Ransom notes keep falling out your mouth_

_Midsweet talk, newspaper word cutouts_

_Speak no feeling_

_No, I don't believe you..._

_Speak no feeling_

_Speak no feeling_

She had written those three words several times more, each time underlining them more and more emphatically. It was something she had to keep to herself. And even then, she couldn't even let herself think those feelings. She was a high school girl now, living in her foster house with foster parents and foster friends. Just trying to keep her head above water was enough of a chore. The last thing she needed was something like this coming in and screwing everything up.

Though... the allure was...

No. No allure. It had no allure. She was interested in her schoolwork. In studying about rocks. Alison and Sarah were her friends, and it was them she'd turn to if she had any boy problems.

She wasn't sure whether it was reassurance or convincing that she was trying to do. But fortunately, she wasn't left to think about it for much longer, because if she didn't get off the bus soon, it would blow right past her stop, and that would have been the last thing she needed today.

-RN-

Another week had passed. This Monday morning, however, she had woken up on time and had a very relaxed day, with everything going as it normally should have. Being bombarded with an essay on The Once and Future King, an assignment on imaginary numbers, and a field-based lab for earth sciences, all over the course of three days, had left her mind too occupied to focus on that nagging feeling left over from a week ago.

At the end of her school day today, though, waiting on her stoop was a very familiar box that almost made her drop everything when she saw it. The silver container, normally empty and dull, had been polished to an almost brilliant shine even in the fading November sunlight, and a small slip of yellow paper was sticking out of it. She briefly considered kicking it into the bushes and forgetting about it – and in fact, she did, and that would have been well enough, but after she had kicked it, it opened, the small piece of paper fluttering out in the breeze.

She caught the paper in midair and looked at it quickly. Two words, written in such a way that, if she cared, she would almost be able to feel the desperateness coming from them. "_Please remember._"

Brooke grumbled and crumpled the paper in one hand, throwing it to the side to join the box. "Why doesn't he just give up already?" she muttered, pushing the door of her house open and finally going inside. She made a beeline for her room without even greeting her father, who she knew would be sitting on the couch watching television, like he always was when she got home from school. Her mother wouldn't be home for a couple hours.

She dumped her backpack out over her bed, watching her earth sciences book fall out last and disturb everything else. The assignment for that class would be especially easy, she knew. Go out into an open, natural area and take some samples of the earth, then bring them into class so they could run some kind of test on them. The scientific words, she wasn't really all that savvy to. It was more the earth part that drew her in, but she was learning what it felt like to be an egghead. She giggled at that thought, that she, Brooke Reynolds, could ever be a scientist. She sucked at math, and as far as she knew, science was just another type of math.

About the only thing she was good at, where science came to mind, was knowing the earth. She really did always have an interest in rocks and dirt, but nobody would be able to tell by looking at her. It had even taken Alison and Sarah a while to figure it out – they'd had her slated for a cross-country runner. Of course, she couldn't tell them how right they were, or at least would have been, but now that she was focusing on all the events from the beginning of her freshman year, she couldn't help but draw all the wrong connections to her past.

In an effort to drown those thoughts out, she left her earth sciences book on her bed and instead picked up her algebra text, putting it on her desk and opening it to the chapter she had to review before she could even think of starting all that stuff about imaginary numbers.

-RN-

"Square root of negative one, my ass," she mumbled, her eyes already glazed over from boredom. She couldn't keep this up much longer, but she had to; she had a quiz tomorrow and was not at all closer to comprehending the subject. Her eyes scanning the page, she found herself reading the same sentence over and over again, and not even that information was getting through.

Instead, in her boredom, her thoughts were slipping to other events. Last Monday, specifically, and the experience she'd all but forced herself to forget.

She needed to get out of the house. Before she got completely lost in what she used to be. She needed to distract herself somehow. With… with homework. Homework would work.

But she hadn't even finished the book for English yet, and she knew she couldn't keep doing math anymore. That left one thing. Leaving the house to go to some place in the city… that would help. And it was just a couple samples, anyway. She wouldn't be alone at night in the city for long. Besides, the Teen Titans kept the streets safe for people like her.

Or at least, one of them still did.

"No, damn it, I can't keep… ugh," she started thinking out loud. "I gotta get outta here." She picked up her empty backpack, threw her cell phone in, and left her room, going downstairs to the kitchen to grab some Ziploc bags. "Mom, Dad, I'm heading out to do one of my projects. I'll be back. Got my cell if you need me." Her dad was probably already asleep – something about that couch had to be magic or something; everyone always fell asleep on it – but she knew her mom had heard her, and felt no qualms when she shut the door behind her and left the house for a while.

-RN-

Fortunately, she lived on the right end of the city, so her trip to the desert just outside Jump was a short one. She wasted no time in getting there, keeping her eyes straight ahead and not taking the time to look up at the sky to admire the night. She was out at night for homework and couldn't afford distractions.

The actual project part, she had finished rather quickly. The problem was that being in the desert for any length of time reminded her of… back then. She was torn between being anxious to get out of there and wanting to sit around and soak it all in, so maybe she could sort through her thoughts better. The logic made sense to her, at least. But she couldn't come to a decision at all, and wound up just standing there for a while, divided.

One thought crept its way back into her mind – of that morning last week. With the thrill running through her body, she didn't have any other thoughts. It had distracted her from everything for a while.

She needed that rush to come again to clear her head. But out here, there were no buses not to catch, and really nothing at all to get her heart pumping. Her eyes passed across a rocky outcropping, and she actually vocalized her objection to that. "No." Her voice wasn't firm or shocked; more surprised that the thought had ever crossed her mind.

But it was the only thing around.

And she really, really needed to just not think for a while.

She sighed deeply. "One time. One time, and then it'll never happen again," she told herself, bargaining. "Just this once."

As if trying to remember some obscure fact from far too long ago, her eyes closed and her mouth twisted into a determined frown. Nothing happened for a while, but eventually, after not even she knew how long, one of the rocks from the outcropping dislodged itself and slowly made its way over to her.

She gasped in surprise when she opened her eyes and realized that she could still do something like that, then shakily climbed on. Taking things much more slowly at first, she rose into the air only about a foot, then turned the rock and her body with it so that she was facing a large, clear expanse of desert, hopefully out of sight from the rest of the city.

Moving forward at around her standard walking speed, she gradually picked up a little speed, making sure her footing would hold. She wasn't exactly wearing heels, but she wasn't wearing boots either, and that made staying in place a major concern. Once she was sure she wasn't going to fly off, she kept pressing onward, increasing her speed until she was moving faster than she'd ever gone on foot.

Faster and faster she rocketed across the desert, losing herself to the adrenaline and the rush of the wind past her face, and her mind was free. She didn't notice that she wasn't thinking about things going on in her life, but then again, that was the point. She didn't notice anything except what was going on directly in front of her; heard nothing but the wind; saw nothing but desert and sky.

Unfortunately, she had overlooked what was hiding behind one of the dunes, and another cluster of rocks came out of seemingly nowhere as she turned a shallow corner. Her platform collided with those rocks, sending her flying forward, landing face-first in the sand.

Her knees and the heels of her palms were skinned almost to the point of bleeding, and she had a pounding headache, but as she carefully climbed to her feet, she realized she was smiling. Her mind had been a clean slate for just that one moment. And she loved that. But there had to be other ways to get that same sensation, she knew. Because this was the only time she would do this. Ever.

She was still a damn far walk away from her house, though. Farther now than it had been. Fortunately, she'd at least kept her backpack with her.

"Maybe just one more time," she conceded. Just to get her closer to home. It was getting later by the minute, and even the Titans had to sleep. It wouldn't be safe.

Another rock made its way under her feet.

Just one more time. And then never again.

Just one more time, to get back to living her foster life.


	2. Let It Be

"You're looking a lot better lately." 

"Heh, thanks. I've been getting more sleep and eating better and stuff." Brooke hated lying to Sarah and Alison, but she couldn't very well say the real reason behind her improved mood and all. She couldn't tell anyone. Even though it had happened a while back, she was still riding that lucid high.

"Eating better? Oh, yeah, 'cause you're totally fat," Alison joked. Sarah followed her lead.

"Yeah, if anything, you could stand to eat more junk food. Bulk you up." The two girls shared a laugh, but the third was not amused.

"C'mon, guys, we've been _over _this," she protested with exasperation. "I have crazy metabolism. I could eat all the chocolate in China and not gain any weight."

The red-headed girl raised an eyebrow. "I think you mean Belgium. Or Switzerland. You're meta-ing your mixaphors."

"Hey, do I _look _like a mapmaker?"

Alison looked Brooke up and down, then affected an obviously fake dreamy voice. "I don't know; I might need a map to stop myself from getting _lost _in your _eyes_, though."

Sarah, somehow managing a straight face, joined in. "I could just stand here all day and drink up your looks like all the tea in Guatemala." She fluttered her eyelids facetiously as a final touch.

Brooke gave the two of them a very stern look for a moment, before a smile crept over her face and the laughter she had been stifling burst out. "You guys are good. And now I'm hungry. Catch you two after my study hall for lunch?"

"You know it," Alison said. Sarah flashed a thumbs-up. "See you later, Brooke!" The three girls waved to each other and went their separate ways, Brooke still chuckling.

-RN-

"Ms. Reynolds!" A voice that should have been very familiar to the girl called through the back of the library, where fewer people were studying, making it okay to speak more loudly.

And Brooke would have heard the voice, if it weren't for Those Meddling Kids, a local band that had recently cut a demo CD. If anyone claimed she had a crush on the bassist, she'd deny it, but they were at least friends. She'd been listening to the CD almost daily for the past couple of months – at least since December.

"Ms. Reynolds!" the voice called again. This time, though, the person calling her name had found her and was already walking towards her. Brooke was still oblivious, lost in her books and her music. The woman who had been looking for her tapped her on the shoulder. "Brooke."

That finally got her attention. She pulled the headphones off her ears and looked up, her eyes opening in surprise. "Ah! Ms. Cisewski! Sorry, I was listening to music. Uh, what's up?" She knew she could afford a more casual tone with this teacher in particular.

"I've actually come up with something that might interest you," she explained, a warm, friendly smile on her middle-aged face. Brushing some of her black hair out of her face, she moved a hand to the chair next to Brooke. "Would you mind if I sat down?" Brooke smiled back, shaking her head and indicating that it would be fine.

"Now, I don't think I have to say that you are an excellent student in my class," she continued after sitting down. "Your grades have been consistently stellar, and you always show such interest. It's refreshing to see a student pay as much attention as you do. Especially because I seem to put everyone else in your immediate vicinity to sleep." A slight frown drew down her lips.

Brooke laughed a little. "I could throw some pumice at them until they wake up. Lightweight rock. Wouldn't cause _too_ much brain damage. And I know where I can get a lot of it, too." She was only mostly joking, which Ms. Cisewski seemed to pick up on.

"Now, Brooke, that just wouldn't be nice," she said in a reprimanding tone. "But just because it wouldn't be nice doesn't mean they wouldn't deserve it." She grinned wryly, watching Brooke's reaction and waiting for the chuckling to stop before she resumed the point of the conversation. "Other students aside, I've been pushing for the school to incorporate another extracurricular under the supervision of the science department. And this year, now that they've seen such an interest in it from you and a few other students, they finally caved. They're going to let us organize a mountaineering club."

Brooke's eyes lit up. "Mountaineering? Like, climbing mountains for fun? And getting all hands-on with geology and everything?" Her teacher nodded, smiling at the girl's eagerness. "That's... wow, that's really awesome!"

"I take it you're interested, then?" Brooke nodded enthusiastically. "Well, then, we certainly have a lot of planning to do, don't we?"

"Wait, 'we'?"

"Oh, of course! Do you think I'd approach my best student with something like this and not ask her if she'd like to be president of the club?"

"Me? President?" She'd not led anything in her life. That would be... well, certainly a change. Hopefully a welcome one. "I'd... I mean, yeah. Yeah, I'll do that!"

Ms. Cisewski smiled. "I thought you would. Now, if you'll just come to my room after school today, we can talk about this more. The period's almost over, and I wouldn't want to make you late for your next class." Almost on cue, the end-of-class bell rang. "I'll be waiting for you."

Brooke was positively beaming now, even while she was gathering up her books. "I'll be there, Ms. Cisewski."

Putting a hand on the girl's shoulder again, the teacher spoke up. "I think we can be on a first-name basis with each other now. Call me Joy."

Taking a brief moment away from her books to process that, Brooke grinned. "Heh, all right. Thanks, M... uh, Joy."

-RN-

Even while she had been talking about it with Alison and Sarah, Brooke couldn't believe it. A mountaineering club, and she was going to be president alongside her favorite teacher! It was like some incredibly geeky dream come true. Not that she was complaining; this would combine her two loves: Geology and thrill-seeking.

Thrill-seeking.

No, wait, that was a bad thing.

If she got caught up in something like this, it didn't take a math genius to realize that it could add up to a lot of stuff happening that she really didn't want to happen.

But climbing mountains... whatever that _could _lead to, it didn't mean it _would._ Besides, it would really give her a chance to get hands-on with the things she was most interested in.

After a minor crisis, she resolved to meet up with Joy in her classroom after all. The meeting hadn't taken all too long, but she still had to wait until 4:30 for the late bus to come pick her up. The two of them had made an executive decision to hold meetings for the club after school on Thursdays, with possible activities including bake sales to raise money to actually rent all the mountain-climbing equipment they would need.

Neither of them really knew how much interest such a club would garner, though, which was a major stumbling block. Joy had mentioned a few other students, but "a few" could have meant three, bringing the group to a grand total of six people. But, well, they would climb that mountain when they came to it.

-RN-

Meetings came and went over the course of the next two years. The club hadn't grown much, plateauing at around twelve or thirteen people during its most popular meetings, where Brooke and Joy offered free food. Sarah had attended nearly every meeting in its entirety for the first year, and well into her and Brooke's sophomore year, as well. After that, though, her interest apparently waned and she stopped showing up as frequently. When questioned about it, Sarah would give the noncommittal answer of her having other things to do; she never elaborated further.

Leading up to her junior year, Brooke sometimes felt that she was just being overwhelmed with work. The first semester of her sophomore year had brought her biology and pre-calculus, not to mention a more advanced English class and Driver's Ed. She'd had to cut lunch out of her schedule to keep a study hall during the school day, since she knew she wouldn't have enough time to keep up with everything and still be an effective president if she'd just waited until the end of the day. Her elective course, which was a requirement for Murakami High, remained focused on the earth sciences; she had elected to take one of Joy's higher-level geology courses. Though it was still nothing entirely too challenging, taking two sciences definitely had pushed her to the brink of being overworked.

The stress of her school day, combined with the natural high she got from the mountaineering club (which had, in fact, finally raised enough money to climb a mountain as the last meeting of her freshman year), drew her to Jump City's desert more and more often. She had found herself constantly making bargains, saying that she would only do this once more and then never see the place again, and yet after every terrible, horrible, no-good, very-bad day (which, fortunately for her, were few and far between), she brought herself to the desert on foot and cut loose with her powers, flying farther and farther distances at greater and greater speeds.

To the best of her knowledge, no one had seen her escapades at all that year, and even her parents weren't savvy to her deeds; taking two sciences (and therefore performing two lab experiments per week) had its perks, after all. When the beginning of her junior year had come around, however, she began to worry.

No one from school had seen her; or at least, no one from school who actually _went _to the school. It had been a brisk September day and the school year, her junior year, had just started; she, fresh off the high of the semiyearly mountain-climbing excursion in late August, had decided to ring in the new year with another ride through the desert. Either she had left earlier than she had meant to, or the streets had been particularly busy that night, but regardless, someone of fading familiarity had seen her riding on a rock, doing a circuit of the desert. Of course, she didn't know that immediately. And she wouldn't; not for several months more.

-RN-

The bleary winter of that year was finally subsiding, as February 15th had finally brought about the first sunny day Jump City had seen in months. Unfortunately for Brooke, that same dreary feeling did not seem to want to leave her alone. Not even 24 hours earlier, on the Valentine's Day that she would come to call "That Stupid Bloody Sunday", Anthony, bassist for Those Meddling Kids and her boyfriend for nearly six months, had broken up with her.

"He just _dumped _me for some _skank_!" Brooke's voice echoed off the walls of one of the school's bathrooms. As they tried to always be, Sarah and Alison were with her, standing outside the stall that Brooke had sequestered herself inside.

"Hey, c'mon, Brooke," Sarah started, her tone comforting. "There's plenty of other people around. Besides, you don't need someone like him around. He dumped you on _Valentine's Day_, for Christ's sake!"

Alison recognized that Sarah had a point, but didn't think she was exactly going about it the right way. "His band's going nowhere, and it doesn't even look like he showers. He's totally not the guy for you." She smirked. "Besides, I heard him calling his new girlfriend 'Cleopatra'. His history sucks, or his spelling sucks. Either way, you're too smart for him."

Sarah grinned, and even Brooke broke through her sadness and vindication to smile. Maybe they were right. Maybe this was just a fluke. They were never even that serious. They had kissed a few times, but she didn't really find herself wanting (or needing) to feel that. She had her own ways of getting those same euphoric feelings, anyway. She needed Anthony like she needed the last boy she'd had in her life.

Her friends perked up when they heard the distinct sound of the stall door unlocking, and greeted Brooke with compassionate, caring looks when she stepped out. Her eyes still red, she walked over to the sink and turned on the water. "I'm gonna clean myself up. Then we can get out of here and hit lunch. Could one of you hold my hair back?" Sarah reached out to keep Brooke's hair under control while Alison looked on.

After a brief moment, the three girls left the bathroom together, Brooke looking a deal more presentable. All three knowing what she had meant when she had specifically said "hit lunch", they began walking through a series of out-of-the-way hallways until they came across one of the back doors of the school. While Sarah pushed open the door and Brooke kept watch, Alison pulled an innocuous piece of hard plastic – maybe from an electric razor cover, maybe from an old binder; one man's trash, at any rate – and placed it at the bottom of the door frame so it wouldn't lock behind them.

Closing the door carefully, Brooke looked to her friends and said, "I'll drive." Their lunch period was technically still going on, so they had maybe a half hour to get to the pizza place and get back to school without getting caught, but Brooke had done the run in less time before; all three of them knew it'd be no problem.

The three girls piled into Brooke's red VW Beetle – not by any means a brand new car, but it got her from point A to point B with minimal cramping for the passengers. Her parents had bought it for her a year ago, and she already had her provisional license, so technically she was driving illegally with both Sarah and Alison in the car, but she'd done it a million times before and had never been pulled over for it.

Regardless of legality, Brooke and company quietly peeled out of the school's parking lot and, in a matter of minutes, were only just getting out of the car at the best pizza place in the city. Loads better than what they served at Murakami, Brooke thought.

"It's a nice day out," Alison started, the group opening the door to their lunch spot and walking in. "We should eat on the second floor today." The second floor featured pizza _al fresco_ – or at least, that was how its employees described it. Everyone else just called it open-air pizza. But Brooke and Sarah nodded in agreement as they approached the counter.

"Hey, Armando," Brooke said with a smile. "Uh, we'll have—"

Armando, standing behind the counter, cut her off. "Brooke! Sarah! Alison! I would be a very bad employee if I didn't know my favorite customers' orders!" The girls laughed along with him as he cut two slices of pepperoni and one of mushroom from the oven-fresh pizzas under the glass next to the counter.

Brooke and Sarah taking the pepperoni slices and Alison the mushroom, they paid for their food and waved back at him as they made their way to the staircase. "We'll be back tomorrow," Sarah called over her shoulder.

Brooke, having reached the top of the stairs first, almost fell backwards down them when she saw five very familiar faces scarfing down pizza at a table nearby. One particularly off-color face specifically stuck out at her. She even saw his lips move to wordlessly say two syllables that held increasing significance for her.

Sarah was first to Brooke's side, followed by Alison. "You okay?" the former asked, but after a quick look around, the latter moved to stand in front of Brooke.

"You want us to deal with short, green, and nerdy?" she asked. As if on cue, the boy in question stood up.

With him walking closer to them, Brooke shook her head. "You guys eat lunch. I'll take care of this." The way she had said it left no room for questions. Alison and Sarah taking their leave, Brooke bridged the gap between her and the green teenager. In the same tone, she said one thing to him.

"You and I need to have a talk."


	3. Hello Goodbye

Beast Boy could barely believe it. _She_ wanted to talk to _him_. A year after he had given up trying at all, she wanted to talk to him. He couldn't manage to do much more than stand there, dumbfounded -- and even after she'd grabbed his arms and pulled him down into a seat at an empty table, he still felt distant. To make sure this wasn't just a dream, he rubbed his eyes. "This can't be happening."

Brooke first had to tear her attention from the other superheroes, one of which she saw hold out his arm as if trying to keep the other three back. She saw him level a gaze at her, though she couldn't tell what it meant -- she never could. She briefly considered giving him the one-finger salute just so he would leave her alone, but decided against it and simply stopped looking at him.

"Terra..." the green kid started. She shook her head at him.

"It's Brooke. I'm not Terra--" And barely had the last word escaped her lips before Beast Boy cut her off.

"I know you're not. The girl I want you to be is just--"

"Not anymore." After a pause, Brooke wasn't sure whether or not she should laugh at Beast Boy's reaction; seeing him suddenly struck silent was kind of funny, after all. But instead, she kept talking. "I used to be Tara Markov, years ago. I used to be Terra. But now I'm Brooke Reynolds. It's my own name and my own life." She sighed, and for a moment there was silence between them. Beast Boy almost said something, but Brooke started talking again before he could even get through the first syllable.

"That's what I've been telling myself for three years. And I believed it. I mean, of course I did. If you can't believe yourself, who can you, right?" She laughed, a very tiny and nervous sound. "But lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and I realized that... that maybe I miss my old life a little." Which was another lie; she was missing it a lot, but didn't want to appear desperate. She almost immediately saw Beast Boy perk up at that, and found herself speaking quickly while she explained it further. "I don't mean, like, living with you guys and being on the team officially, though. I'm still a high school student. I still want to finish high school and maybe go to college or something. But maybe," and she paused, having caught out of the corner of her eye the smile of an alien girl from a life long past.

"Maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world if I could just hang out with you guys from time to time? Maybe fight a crook or two sometime?" Though she already knew what Beast Boy's answer would be, she still wanted to hear him say something.

"Dude, I... of _course_ you can!" She could practically see Beast Boy's spirits lifting, as if she just made his day impossibly better. "Guys, great news," he yelled back to the others, far too loudly for Brooke's liking.

"Ssh, not so loud," she warned, but it seemed to be a little too late. First had come the alien girl to join Beast Boy, then the biomechanical man, and at last the traffic light in tights. The only one not to come over was the one person Brooke in equal parts feared and wanted to make amends with.

A whirlwind of questions overcame her then, from "Is it true?" to "Why now?" to "Are you sure this is a good idea?", and not a single one did she have an answer for. She managed to buy herself some time, though, when she checked her watch, noticing just how close it was to the end of her lunch period. Sarah and Alison were probably already waiting for her.

She excused herself hastily, only to feel her stomach do a flip turn when she heard that voice that she once looked up to as her leader tell her to show up at the Tower after school. After an enthusiastic, if bewildered, nod, Brooke took her leave, having to refuse a hug from Beast Boy, and drove back to school (with her friends in tow) just in time for the end-of-period bell. For the rest of the day, even though she was smiling oddly, she managed to dodge every question asked of her, instead promising explanations later.

The explanations, of course, never came; she could never tell Alison or Sarah, much less her parents or Ms. Cisewski. She had to call home after the final bell rang and explain that she was going to be staying after school for a while, but of course, no one picked up. The message would get across one way or another, though, and she had bigger things to worry about. Feeling terribly formal and overdressed in her uniform, she walked her way to the edge of the bay, where she found the metal man she called her friend years ago waiting for her. After a short and quiet trip, the two of them joined the others.

"You're back." His voice was as full of disbelief as it had been at the pizza place earlier. He never changed, and she was thankful for that.

"I am."

"We need to talk." A stock response that sounded more human than she would have given him credit for under other circumstances.

"I figured."

"You want to be one of us again?" The mask narrowed with the boy's eyes. "Boy" was wrong by now. He was nearly a man. As she was nearly a woman.

"I thought it would be nice."

"But why now?" She was growing, too, and Brooke could tell. The girl she knew years ago would never have asked that.

"Sometimes I miss it. I miss the thrill. I miss the feeling I get."

"Have you even _used_ your powers since then?" Like he would know anything about powers.

"No. Not once."

"Do you have to lie?" The sword of Damocles had finally dropped from its purple thread.

"...I'm not lying."

For once, she was met with silence. Only the never-changing shapeshifter broke it.

"I saw you." A broken voice. "We all did."

"...No." Disbelief. A natural reaction. "No, I was..."

"It's okay."

And quiet fell again while she gathered her thoughts.

"I didn't mean to. I wanted to be normal so much. I just... I've always had these powers, as long as I can remember, and it's hard to break old habits."

The wrong thing to say. "Why should we let you back on?" The edge was sharp.

"It's been years," Was she using contractions? Had it really been that long?

"I don't want to be back on permanently. I just want to fight with you every now and then. Or even just... get a chance to use my powers."

"If you want to be normal so much--"

"None of us are normal." He knew the truth of that the most of all.

"...If you don't want to be a superhero anymore, why do you want this? Why with us? What's so wrong with using the desert?" Of course, the analyst would pick it apart.

"I..." But an answer didn't come immediately. Thank god that one of them, her own personal rock to hang on to, held the other questions back until she could answer.

"I'm friends with Sarah and Alison, and with my teacher, but... that's really it. I don't have many other friends at school. You were the first friends I really had, and you're here."

"If you're counting on friendship, don't expect too much." Ouch. Another slice that did anything but cut the tension in the room.

Her leader stood as a dam to further questions now. When he spoke next, it was very much not a question of his own. "We'll find you when we've made our choice. Until then, be as normal as you can be."

Trying not to let those words sink too far into her skin, she turned. "I will."

Her walk back was accompanied by someone new and yet familiar. Someone she knew so well at one point and someone she wanted to know for the first time so desperately.

On the other side, his voice was just as quiet. "Be as normal as you want," he whispered to her. "We'll be in touch."

Unable to stop him or herself, her arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders if only for all too short a moment, lifetime, eon. Two became one for that time, that fleeting year, month, day. Against the setting sun, the embrace broke, ending with a small piece of paper, three and four numbers written on it, being pressed into Terra's bare palm.

-RN-

Evening, dusk, night fell on the household. No phone rang that night. No outgoing, no incoming calls. No loneliness rang, either. Nothing but the words from earlier.

-RN-

Days, weeks, a month passed. Until the fields were green again, and most of the kids were sneaking nips all day to make their outlooks greener. Sarah and Brooke never considered themselves straightedge, but they were never people to get drunk anyway; Alison, however, was a different case; it may have only been a small amount, or maybe she could hold it particularly well, but regardless, she had been acting a little off all day. Looser. Calmer.

Sicker, too. The three girls again found themselves in the bathroom, this time with Alison in the stall and her friends outside.

"Happy St. Patrick's Day, I guess," Sarah said under her breath, well aware that Alison could hear. Raising her voice, "Guess that'll teach you to drink before you can handle it!"

A groan from the stall. "Not so loud. Someone'll... someone'll hear." Fortunately, she hadn't thrown up yet, but at this rate, it was only a matter of time.

"You'll be okay," Brooke reassured, trying to calm her down any way she could.

"Listen to Brooke. She knows what she's talking about."

Despite that she wanted to stay around and offer more comfort, a familiar nine-note ringtone sounded. "I'll... you stay here," Brooke said after a short pause, during which she parsed the number and had to force her voice and her heart back down her throat. "Make sure she's okay. I have to take this."

Brooke departed, leaving the two of them alone for a while. Luckily for Sarah, Brooke hadn't gone too far off. She could still hear at least half of the conversation.

"Hello?

"I... I am? Really?

"I didn't think she would, no. Heh.

"When can I come by?

"I'm busy today, but is over the weekend good?

"I'll see you then. I can't wait. Thank you so much. Tell everyone that."

Click.

"So, Brooke," Sarah said, tapping her on the shoulder. The blonde turned her head around, unable to conceal her ecstatic smile. "What's the big news?"

Brooke toned it down to a grin. Something nonchalant. Something unrevealing. Something fake. "It's a secret."

"You're keeping so many secrets from us lately." Sarah sounded, understandably, dejected. "When is it all gonna just stop?"

"Trust me, Sarah, you'll find out--"

"_When_? What happened to sharing our secrets with each other? What happened to friends forever, Brooke?"

Both girls shrunk back at that for different reasons, but after a pause, Brooke spoke. "I promise. I promise I'll tell you. But only when I'm ready."

-RN-

Thankfully, Sarah had believed those words, and as far as Brooke knew, would continue believing them for as long as it took. Alison had heard the same story and had accepted the terms only after being convinced by the other two. But with the solemn vow of the pinky swear their unspoken bond, the three had agreed. Brooke kept her promises. If there was one thing she was sure of, that was it.

Meanwhile, she had worked out an agreement with the Titans. One Saturday of every month would be spent hanging out with them at the Tower, using their facilities, be they gym, training ground, or just the gigantic television in the common room. One Saturday of every month, Terra would gather with four of her five former friends -- and only four. Always four.

Things continued that way for nearly a year. Her regular life, her real life, with Sarah and Alison and AP English and Calculus and Physics and even more Geology than she knew what to do with lived on with her promise. She smiled widely for her senior picture and put her arms out to get measured for her graduation gown, clean and empty white. And her goggles glinted in the mid-afternoon sun from barely a few feet off the ground, her knees already a faded but alive red from skinning them after being pushed off by lively and distant green hands.

The fissure she had made in her own life seemed impossible to span, and that was just the way she liked it. No one from school knew of her double life, though a single person from the other did.

A May afternoon. Lazy and lolling, the perfect type of day for not doing anything.

Terra was inside, facing four others. Always four. Only four.

"I'm leaving. I can't do this anymore."

"What? Why now?" The girl she hated to disappoint.

"I want to stay in school. My parents want to send me to college, and I want to go. I have a full scholarship and everything. A free ride."

"Are you sure this is what you really want to do?" The machine she hated to unplug.

"I do. I am. I really want to thank you all for doing this for me, but I have to move on. I can't keep doing this. I have to make a choice."

"For what it's worth, I think you're making the right one." The voice she hated to question.

"...What?"

"We... haven't been the same since you came back. We're growing up just like you have. I just got a call from Gotham the other day. Everyone else already knows, but... I don't think the Titans are going to be around much anymore."

"There's more heroes to take our place. More people that are younger. Better for the job. They're like the new generation." His organic eye winked at the red-haired woman.

"We have been training them for months now, making sure that they are ready for whatever the city may present to them." She blushed, directing her attention towards he who would soon be their former leader.

"The truth is that... the city doesn't need us anymore."

"It was much fun while it lasted, but... I will soon be accompanying Richard to Gotham. I do not know what Cyborg's plans are, but I trust he has some."

"I'm gonna go try to get a job at S.T.A.R. Labs... I think they could use someone like me, considering I'm half their tech."

This was a lot of information to take in; Brooke barely knew how to handle it. After a few blinks and fewer controlled breaths, she sighed. "I... wow. So I guess it doesn't really matter what I do from now on, if there aren't gonna be any Titans around."

Of the three shaking heads, the one adorned with red explained. "That is not true, Terr--Brooke. You will always be our friend. You have changed our lives simply by your presence, and we all wish you the best in what you may do." One smiled and two followed.

"Good luck in college, Brooke." A grin.

"Don't ever stop bein' my little rocker." A smirk.

"I won't. Thanks." A laugh and a smile.

-RN-

Three had dispersed, leaving one behind. One who had remained strangely silent throughout it all.

"So I guess this is it, huh?" The heart she hated to break, dropping the silence and shattering it.

"...Beast Boy, I love you, but--"

"But you have to go. I heard you." Curt.

Worry.

"No."

A head turning.

"I want you to come with me."

Silence again.

"It's just outside the city. And... I'm going for geology, but they... they've got a great acting program there. And I know how much you love that." Of course. She had to. After spending she'd lost count how many years with him, that was just one of the things she had picked up. "And you're a Titan. You'll get in no problem."

More silence.

"Beast Boy...?"

Three footsteps. Two arms. One word. Closer. Tighter. Softer.

"Garfield."

And three back. Four. Five.

"You have to do what you have to do. I don't know. I don't know yet." A week, a year, an eternity's pause in his words. "I love you, Tara."

And then.

Nothing.


	4. Love Me Do

College. A big word for her, and one she'd never have expected to hear following the words "I'm going to". But sure enough, there she was on the campus of Jump City University (which she didn't quite get, since she wasn't exactly _in _Jump anymore). She'd heard nothing from her roommate; in fact, all she knew was her name. D-something Troy. Donna or Diana; she couldn't remember which. That wouldn't be a problem for much longer, though, Brooke thought as she walked up the steps to Wyatt Hall. Her parents, or at least the people she considered her parents, followed behind her, wheeling a large bin through the door. 

For all the stuff she thought she had, it took up surprisingly little space in her two-bed dorm room. A small TV, a desktop computer, a poster of one of her favorite bands, a few geology books (with space for textbooks), and a picture of her with her parents. There was one thing she'd deliberately left unpacked until her parents had hugged and kissed her goodbye, though.

She hadn't expected it to still glint after the time it had spent to one side of her stoop back home. Yet still she had to squint a little when she opened it and her eyes were assaulted with light reflecting from the lid. Inside she kept two things that would always make her smile – sand from Jump's desert and soil from a certain island, both in small bags – if for no other reason than, if by some stroke of fate, she could see that familiar face when he found out she was keeping things in his box.

Evening had come and there was still no sign of her mysterious roommate. She had to wonder just where that girl was. But maybe her flight was late. Maybe she'd show up tomorrow. Too many maybes for Brooke to worry about right now. But man, it was creepy falling asleep in a totally new place. That was one part of her old life that she'd never get used to if she slept in a hundred homes – and she would know; she had. Fortunately, she could drown out the tapping at the window – just a tree in the wind – and sleep soundly by pulling her covers up over her head.

-RN-

Several mornings came and passed as Brooke fell into her routine. Her roommate never showed up, but the school never did anything to rectify that, so she was rather enjoying the extra space. She certainly needed it with all the books she had to buy; she needed eight for just one class and could barely believe it. Fortunately, her parents were still willing to foot the bill for the books, since the actual cost of tuition wasn't a problem.

She found that her schedule was fairly basic, or at least she guessed that much from all the people in all her classes. Intro to College, Environmental Sciences, Calculus (a requirement, unfortunately), Chemistry, and History of Flight and Space as an elective. Even the smallest class, History of Flight and Space, still had at least fifty kids in it. Of course, that just meant more friends for her to make, and even just after the first month, she had her own new group. Not to say she neglected Sarah and Alison, of course; in fact, she hung out with them as often as she could, since sometimes high school friends were still the best. Especially when some creepy guy in a black trenchcoat with something hiding his face kept following her back to the dorm after Intro to College, and it was those moments that made Brooke glad that there was an all-female floor, even if she never saw him actually go in the building.

Still, she talked to Sarah and Alison about Creepy Trench Guy, as he had come to be called. Their advice was the best, probably because it involved common sense – don't walk alone at night, don't go down any dark alleys; standard fare, really. Not that Brooke was ever in any real danger, but, well, she still hadn't told her friends about her powers, and she wasn't about to, at the rate things were going.

Things, aside from Creepy Trench Guy, were going fairly smoothly, actually. Brooke noticed that college seemed a lot more relaxed than high school, on the whole, and even when midterms came around, she didn't seem too stressed. Must have been the wide open campus with a thick forest on one side – yeah, that must have been calming her, or at least that was the justification she always used.

The one thing that tripped her up, however, came just after her last midterm, in History of Flight and Space. Prof. Herman scheduled it for a normal class period, which happened to be just bordering on nighttime, and the sun had always just barely set by the time she got out of that class. On that night, campus wasn't eerily quiet at all; in fact, the quads were bustling, and that might have been the reason the person who accosted Brooke chose that night to do it.

Whatever the reason, Brooke was just about at her residence hall – in fact, in sight of it – when a guy in a long black coat appeared out of what seemed like nowhere. _"Oh god," _she thought, and started to alter her path before she realized there really wasn't anywhere to go.

"Look, creep, I don't know who you are," she started, "but leave me the hell alone already."

Creepy Trench Guy was quiet for a moment before he lowered the collar of his coat and poked his face out to look at Brooke directly. He couldn't help but smirk when he heard her gasp in surprise.

"G—_Garfield!_"

"Hey, not so loud!" he said just as loudly, clearly not even taking himself seriously.

"What are you—wait, if you were the one stalking me for the past two months, why the hell didn't you just _say _something?" Yeah, that was definitely the more important question.

"I _tried_, but every time I got close enough you started running away!"

"Gee, I wonder why," Brooke commented dryly, pointing at his trenchcoat. "Why are you even wearing that thing?"

"What, you don't think it makes me look sexy?" He waggled his eyebrows and grinned toothily.

"I think it makes you look like the guys we used to bust," she said, laughing a little. "So wait, what _are _you doing here, anyway?"

"Well, remember how you said there was a great acting program here?"

"Whoa, you enrolled?" She sounded incredulous, but he just beamed in response. "I never really took you for a school guy." Both of them laughed at that.

"See, that's the thing. The most work I gotta do is read some plays to act them out, and that's just like scripts, so that's totally natural for me! It's totally perfect!"

"Okay, so that explains everything except why you didn't just come out and tell me you were a student here, instead of making me start carrying around pepper spray." And she did actually have some in her messenger bag around her shoulder.

"I didn't want to ruin the surprise," he said, a hopeful look in his eyes, but she just sighed even though she was grinning.

"That's one mystery solved, at least. Now I don't need to be worried for my life. So... so wait, I guess you decided?" He nodded proudly. "So you're gonna be stuck here with me for the next four years, huh?"

"You know it!"

"Cool."

-RN-

Of course, news like that never stayed secret for long. The next time Sarah, Brooke, and Alison met, the beans were thoroughly spilled. They seemed to take it surprisingly well, though.

Or at least, they would have if Brooke ever told them. Some secrets weren't meant to be told, after all, and for the safety of their friendship, she'd have to keep this until she was ready to come entirely clean. When that would be, though, she had no idea.

-RN-

She still had no idea when she would come clean even in the last month of her senior year in college. Of course, it was really the last thing on her mind, and no one who knew her could really blame her for that. Her freshman year had finished easily; no major roadblocks really kept her back. That was probably how it was supposed to be, though.

Much as she hated to see it happen, after a couple years, Brooke began drifting from her high school friends as she grew closer with her college buddies – including, of course, Garfield, but as her education grew, so did her circle of friends, though they were mostly girls. She briefly had a thing for a local musician (as she noticed at the time, old habits died hard), but she wound up staying with Garfield through it all.

Their relationship started out shakily, which was probably the only unstable part about her four years at college. She wished she could have said the same for Garfield, but fame preceded him and though she tried to keep him involved in his own studies, people just couldn't seem to get past the fact that he used to be a Teen Titan. Even the people who hadn't even grown up in Jump City eventually learned it by word of mouth, and at one point he was in danger of failing out from his ego and natural showmanship taking the wheel.

Fortunately, Brooke was there for him then, even though she didn't really have much time for herself, what with classes like Climate Change, Tectonics (a field she knew more about than she let on), Sedimentology, and Stratigraphy to keep her occupied. She had to admit that she didn't even know what half those words meant before she took the classes, but she had to keep herself devoted to them. It was, naturally, hard at times, especially at the end of her junior year when she turned 21, but she lasted through that and considered herself better for it.

Of course, the drunken hookup with Garfield that night probably helped color her memories, too.

Regardless of the events that had brought the two of them there, they were finally ready to graduate. Brooke had invited her foster parents, who sounded as proud as her real parents would have when she called them up; Garfield, however, would be getting his degree with nobody there to congratulate him.

The two of them wearing their gowns and mortarboards, they had one last conversation as students before they would have to join the real world and become functioning members of society. (Neither of them was particularly looking forward to that.)

"Your mom and dad are gonna be here, huh? They must be as proud of you as I am."

A giggle. Even though she was a woman now, she could still be childish when she wanted to. "You're such a flatterer. I'm proud of you too, you know. It's not every day my best friend starts on the road to be a famous actor."

"Oh, trust me, there's not gonna be a movie without me in it. You just keep watching the big screen."

"They'll probably take a while to come out. They'll have to edit a lot of it to crop your massive head into the frame."

The two of them laughed. "You know you love it. It's mostly the ears, though. And chicks still dig the ears."

"Sure they do." A gentle smile while her hand touched his cheek. "You look all official and everything. It's so cute." A quick peck on the lips and she was ready to go.

"And you look beautiful, Brooke." His heart fluttered for a reason that she wouldn't even have been able to guess. "We'll meet up after the ceremony."

-RN-

Pomp and Circumstance played a countless amount of times (Garfield lost count around 27; Brooke never bothered) as the Jump City University Class of 2014 commenced. People cheered and cried, and as mortarboards flew into the air, already Garfield was searching for Brooke in the chaos.

Eventually the two found each other and, arms locked, they had a brief chat with Brooke's foster parents before walking off, back to their apartment (they had long since stopped living on campus).

"There's champagne in the fridge if you want to open it to celebrate," Brooke offered. "I'm going to get into something more normal."

A few minutes later, the two of them had gotten out of their gowns and put on more casual clothes before meeting in the kitchen for champagne.

"To the future?" Brooke offered, picking up her glass.

"To us?" asked Garfield in return, taking his.

"Sounds good to me." With a clink, they drank. It didn't take long for the silence to be broken again, though. "I've got a question for you, Garfield."

His hand moving to his pocket, he gulped a little. "Y-yeah? Uh, because I kind of do, too. But, uhm, you go first."

She raised an eyebrow, but it probably wasn't important. Likely just post-graduation jitters. Fear of going into the real world making him nervous. "Okay... how does 'Dr. Brooke Reynolds' sound to you?"

Garfield gasped. "You're gonna be a doctor?" Brooke nodded.

"I was going to tell you earlier, but I wanted to make sure I'd do it, and since we're college graduates now... I'm going for my PhD." The smile on her face couldn't have gotten wider if she tried. "There's so much more I want to learn, and if I ever plateau, I could start teaching pretty easily too. And just think about it – a famous doctor and a famous actor! We'd be _loaded_." Money wasn't a serious concern, but she still liked the idea.

"That's an amazing idea. I love it. I love you," he added. "I say do it. I'm so proud of you right now." Both of them were beaming.

"I love you too, Garfield." She might have been blushing a little bit, but she covered it with her champagne glass. "You said you had a question too, though?" she asked when the glass lowered again.

Garfield rested his glass on the table and reached further into his pocket, pulling out a small box that he kept palmed. "Yeah, uhm... we've known each other for eight years now, and we've been through a lot of stuff that most people can't even say they've done." Brooke thought she knew where he was going with this, but let him talk anyway. "It's been a hell of a trip, and every day just gets better and better, and... even if we're not superheroes anymore, we still have the memories of what happened, and... and..."

Brooke giggled again. "You're not very good at this whole 'public speaking' thing, are you?"

Garfield gave a nervous laugh. "Gimme a break. You'd be nervous too if you were going to ask this question." Brooke raised an eyebrow. "I love you. Tara, Terra, Brooke... whoever you want to be. I'll love all of them." He heard himself quietly opening the box in his hand, but barely realized he was doing it. "I should probably just stop talking and ask you already."

He'd seen enough movies to know what to do next. The box halfway open, he balanced himself on the table as he got down on one knee, then put his hand out and fully opened the box.

"Brooke Reynolds, will you marry me?"


	5. Here Comes The Sun

May. 

May would have been a lovely month for a wedding. With everything in full bloom, but just after the "wedding rush". And most colleges were getting off for break (or graduation), so some of Garfield's friends who had taken a leave of absence for a year could have attended.

Unfortunately, May was out of the question.

Brooke and Garfield couldn't wait that long. December wasn't really great scenery-wise, but they figured six months would give them enough time to plan, as opposed to almost a year, which would just have been too long. Of course, they had no idea the amount of work that had to go into a wedding. Finding a place, finding someone to marry them, caterers, clothing, a band, vows...

Well, the one thing they knew they had to do together was preparing a guest list. (Then, of course, printing and mailing invitations, but one step at a time.)

"Okay, I've definitely got to invite Sarah and Alison. You know them," Brooke said, grinning a little. "And my parents. Oh, and maybe Ms. Cisewski, just because I haven't told her about me being a doctor yet either."

"Cisewski?" Garfield repeated. "Your old high school teacher? You really think she'll want to come?"

"I was only her favorite student! Of course she'll want to come! Now, uh. That's all I can think of right now," Brooke admitted, not really wanting to bring up the question that was on both their minds.

"Okay, well, I've got Greg and Scott – you know them, right?" He saw Brooke nod and continued. "And I was thinking maybe Glen?" He frowned a little. "Even if he is a little weird."

"Garfield, you have green skin and pointy ears. Besides, if I'm inviting my friends, you've got to invite yours. Or it's not gonna be balanced!"

"Okay, okay, Glen's in, fine."

The two of them traded off a few more names between each other before they started clambering for people to invite and the dangling question finally was spoken.

"...Should we invite them?"

"Can we even get in touch with them?"

"I think I still have a communicator lying around." A frown. "But there's no guarantee they still have theirs."

"Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?" The two of them stood up, her after him, and walked to the closet they'd designated the "junk place". When faced with five or six closed cardboard boxes, they shared a glance and she smirked.

"Get to work, then. If you're gonna be my husband, you have to do all the work while I sit around and get pampered."

"Fat chance!" He laughed. "Someone's gotta keep the place clean while I'm starring in _Expire With Difficulty_," he added, reaching into the closet and taking out the topmost box; Brooke took the one underneath that and their search began.

Four boxes and a lot of old notebooks and texts later, their search came to an end when Brooke found a small yellow disk wedged between a calculus and pre-calculus book. "Here it is," she said to draw attention.

The two of them looked at it as if it were the Ark of the Covenant or some sort of giant stone obelisk. Opening it wouldn't melt their faces, but it sure as hell felt like it would. "Do you... do you think he still has his?" Brooke asked hesitantly and didn't even bother clarifying who she meant; she knew Garfield had exactly the same idea.

A green hand reached out for it. "Like you said. Only one way to find out." A few button presses later and the call had been made.

For a while, nothing.

And then.

"_Nightwing here."_

The two of them had to hold back a laugh. Garfield started the conversation back up again.

"Nightwing? What, you get too much flak for using your real name?"

"_...Beast Boy?"_

"You know it. What's up, Dick?"

"_Why are you calling?" _the voice shot back authoritatively.

"Oh, you know, just checking in—"

"Garfield and I are getting married!" Brooke blurted out, barely able to contain it any longer. Garfield looked at her in fake anger.

"_Married? You two? Congratulations. But if that's all you have to say, I have important things to take care of."_

"No, no, don't hang up," Garfield urged. "We, uhm. We wanted to know if you wanted to come to the wedding."

"You and all the other Titans," added Brooke.

Static for a while. Almost too long.

"_You need to know where everyone else is, I guess."_

The two of them smiled together. "So is that a yes?" she asked.

"_I'll send you their addresses." _The couple could have sworn they heard him smirk. _"Are you still beastboyistheman at yahoo dot com, Garfield?" _Brooke had to laugh at that, especially because Garfield looked so embarrassed when he confirmed it. _"You'll have to figure out mine from coordinates, though."_

"That's definitely a yes, isn't it?" Brooke repeated.

"_I think Batman can handle Gotham for a few hours."_

"Great!" The two of them smiled broadly at each other. "We'll send out invitations soon."

"_Congratulations again." _Those were the last words they heard before the signal died.

They looked at each other in silence for a moment, their eyes seeming to ask whether or not this was a good idea, even though they both knew it was too late to turn back now.

-RN-

With the guest list all sorted out (except for one person they were still debating on inviting), the next thing to do was to decide on a venue. And since this wouldn't really be a huge thing – excluding the Titans, there'd probably only be about twenty or so people there – the couple had one fairly prevalent idea as to where they would hold the reception. It wasn't _quite _a church, but it certainly had enough history in Jump City.

The one problem would be getting it for the day from its current inhabitants. Which, of course, meant an impromptu visit to Titans Tower, which wasn't actually in a state of total disrepair. In fact, it looked a lot like the way it was left, except a bit more high-tech. Like it had been polished steadily over the years and now it was giving off a nice metallic sheen. Or maybe the two of them were just crazy and had forgotten what it looked like.

Regardless, after a brief show of powers from Brooke, the two of them arrived at the front door and, of course, knocked on it. Barely had their arms returned to their sides than the door opened, revealing a girl with green skin and a white skintight uniform. She looked up at Brooke and Garfield, then finally spoke.

"And Robin told us you'd never come back, Beast Boy. Who's the chick?" She smirked as Garfield blushed a little at Brooke's disapproving glance.

"Name's Brooke. I used to be a Titan, like Beast Boy over here." The way she said it almost sounded like a tease. "They used to call me Terra."

The green girl seemed mildly surprised at that and only hesitated a little before inviting the former superheroes inside and to the communication room. Ties ran deep, of course, and even though it had been years since the girl and Beast Boy had even last talked, they still trusted each other.

When the three of them arrived in the comm room, they were met by three other girls – one with blonde hair, one very tall, and one with blue skin – and one guy with gray skin. The blue-skinned girl was first to greet them.

"I presume these are our visitors, one of which is Beast Boy and the other is someone very close to him."

"Heh, uhm," Beast Boy started. "Her name's Brooke, or Terra, whichever you want," and a pause to glance in Terra's direction for confirmation stopped him only briefly. "She's my fiancée, Indigo."

"Hah!" the tall girl barked. "So your crazy stalking plan worked?" Again Beast Boy looked embarrassed and felt like sinking into the floor.

"There was nothing clinically insane about the plan, Grace." Oh, thank god the fembot could come to his defense. "Though he may have been stalking her." The gray-skinned man grinned.

"It's only stalking if you didn't want it to happen," Terra shot back, her attention still focused on the green girl. "I guess you guys would be the replacement Titans, then? I've heard _so much _about you." Okay, so maybe she wasn't done teasing him yet. "Beast Boy here just won't shut up about who all you are and what you can do. Really keeping me in the loop." Her words got a laugh from everyone but Indigo, to whom the man had to explain that she was being sarcastic.

"Just the way we remember him," the green-skinned girl prodded one last time. "I'm Jade. That's Grace and Thunder," she indicated the tall and blonde girls, respectively, "and that's Indigo. The only source of testosterone here is Shift." He waved a little.

"What brings you two around here after... god, has it been four years already?" Thunder asked.

"See, that's the thing. Since we're getting married and everything," Terra started, "we were thinking that maybe we could, y'know, borrow the Tower for a day or so for the reception."

Jade glanced around the room and saw a few unsure faces, one or two enthusiastic expressions, and of course the hope on the happy couple's. Before the leader could say anything, Shift jumped in.

"One condition. We're invited."

Terra looked over at Beast Boy as if to say _"well, they're _your _friends"_, and smiled when she saw him nod in agreement. How much damage could five more people do, especially when the groom was missing a decent chunk of people to sit on his side?

"Deal," Jade said and extended a green hand – though it wasn't her own. It seemed to be made of energy that appeared out of no place that the couple could see.

Beast Boy reached out with a laugh. "Deal." Brooke just looked impressed. "See you in December."

-RN-

The invitations had long since gone out – a lovely grass and tulip motif despite the fact that the wedding was to be held in the middle of winter – and nearly everything was finished. It turned out Indigo was a damn good cook (like some kind of machine, even!), so that saved money on catering, though Brooke and Garfield still got a professionally-made cake.

The bride and groom weren't supposed to see each other before the wedding, of course, and that was one tradition they would keep. With Vic Stone as Garfield's best man and Sarah as Brooke's maid of honor, though, they damn sure wouldn't be keeping secrets. Not that Vic and Garfield had many secrets (aside from the government experiments at STAR Labs that Vic wouldn't talk about even if Gar _would _have understood them), but Brooke was long past due on filling in Sarah. And Alison, of course, but that would come later.

"I gotta say, this is a pretty big secret to keep from us, _Terra,_" Sarah said, teasing with her words and Brooke's hair. "But I can see why you kept it from us, at least."

"Yeah, I kind of figured if you two knew, soon everyone at school would know." Brooke paused as Sarah worked through an unexpected tangle. "And then... that would have just been too much pressure. I mean, you don't know what it's like to have to keep a secret that big from your best friends."

Still looking into the mirror in front of her, Brooke saw Sarah walk away, presumably to get the veil. She looked herself over one more time. Their budget hadn't been as spectacular as she'd have liked, but with the money they managed to save on booking a venue, they could put more into buying a proper dress. The one they had chosen, Brooke realized almost immediately, was perfect for her. Its lack of shoulders meant that it was hugging her chest a little, but it wasn't like she'd never worn a strapless shirt before. This was just a strapless shirt that was white and lacy and had hints of floral patterns in the lace and... it was nothing like a strapless shirt. She couldn't even _start _to make that comparison. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever worn, and she had to stop herself from thinking about what was to come or she would start crying and ruin her makeup.

Fortunately, Sarah returned soon enough and fitted Brooke with the veil – the final touch, and now she officially looked like a bride. Sarah just smiled quietly. "Knock him dead, Brooke."

-RN-

Garfield's breath suddenly decided it had somewhere else very important to be when he saw from the makeshift altar his bride-to-be walking down the aisle. The roof of the Tower had been used for many things, but never a wedding. As if seeing all his friends, all Brooke's friends, and even his former teammates weren't enough to intimidate him, just seeing Brooke wearing the dress and looking absolutely beautiful, even with the veil over her face, rendered him practically speechless.

When the time came to recite the vows they had written for each other – and, frankly, every other time he had to speak – he had no idea how he would even get the words out. But he had, of course, gotten a degree in memorization, and so the words still came, even if he got a little choked up near the end.

"Brooke... I've known you since we were just teenagers, back when your name was different and you were a different person. I fell in love with you as soon as I saw you. And we were only together for a year before... I lost you. But in that year we lived more than most people ever did, and I was ready to accept that. Until you came back. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but you didn't want anything to do with me." He laughed a little in embarrassment. "That didn't stop me, though, and I'm glad it didn't, because my stupid hanging on led to this. To you making me the happiest I've ever been.

"I've told you this so many times before, but whoever you want to be, I will always love you. We've lived more than a lifetime with each other and at this rate, we'll be together for eternity. And I can't wait to spend eternity with you."

Brooke was faring much less well when she had to give her vows. Just Garfield's words were enough to bring her to the brink of tears of joy, so she started off at nearly the same place emotionally that her future husband left off on.

"I decided long ago that I'd keep the name Brooke Reynolds. That I'd keep living my life as a normal kid. And even though 'normal' changed meanings for me more than a few times, I'm beyond glad that I stayed with it, because that course led me back to you. It was a chance I knew I wouldn't get for a third time, and it was something I knew I had to do. There were others, but you were my first love, and... and that I got a second chance is just something I can barely believe. But I know this time, it won't end the same way. I love you, Garfield Logan, and back then, my only regret was that I wouldn't get the chance to spend the rest of my life with you. But now that I have a second life with so many opportunities in front of me, I'm not going to waste it. The rest of my life can't start soon enough."

She realized she rambled a little at the end, but considering she was trying to force back tears, she thought she did very well.

What the minister said next barely mattered to them, since they knew exactly how they would respond.

"I do."

And after more of those words they had been waiting for.

"I do."

Garfield knew by kissing Brooke then that he would get her makeup on his face, but he really didn't care.

-RN-

"Congratulations!"

They didn't know they could hear that word so much in such a short amount of time, but if there were one place it could happen, it would be at the wedding. Everyone had long since moved inside, relocating to the communications room that had been redecorated to include a dance floor and enough food for an army.

The one person who hadn't congratulated them yet, though, was the one person neither of the wedded expected to show up at all.

"Congratulations, you two," she said flatly but with a bit of a smirk on her face. Of course, that could have been from seeing their shocked expressions.

"Raven!"

"You actually showed up," Brooke said, trying to conceal her surprise.

"I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see Garfield actually do something right for once."

"You haven't changed a bit, Raven," Garfield laughed. At least, he hoped she was joking. Of course, her expression never gave anything away, and she wasn't about to say anything to confirm or deny it.

"So have you grown a party gland in the past ten years?" the new bride joked.

"I still don't do parties. I just wanted to congratulate you on actually making the right decision. It was obvious you two were crazy about each other." When she saw them start to smile a bit too broadly for her liking, she added, "Try to keep the mushy stuff to a minimum until I'm at a safe distance."

Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, from Raven's perspective), the other Titans, new and old, chose exactly that time to show up. Congratulations and salutations were exchanged, and even a few smirks at how Dick had let his hair grow out, even though Kori's was much more spectacular.

"I'm just bummed we didn't get to throw you a bachelor party," said Shift. Kori, Raven, Brooke, Jade, Thunder, Grace, and Indigo didn't seem too amused at that suggestion. Vic laughed.

"I knew picking you was the right choice. You guys are doing a real bang-up job." Before Indigo could get literal on them, he continued. "As if we needed another reason to celebrate, whaddaya say? It's a party, so let's boogie already!"

As most of the Titans moved to the dance floor, the newly married stayed in place for a few moments more.

"You know, he has a point," Brooke said. "You never did get a bachelor party."

"Heh, well, y'know, it's not really a big deal..."

"Oh, no, it is. I understand entirely. And if you still feel like you missed out, then when we get home tonight, maybe I can fix that." He couldn't even help the powerful blush that flooded his face. As he stammered, all she did was giggle. "Well, come on. It is a party, after all. Shall we dance?"


End file.
